I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6075 

To ensure greater accountability by licensed firearms dealers. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 12, 2018 

Mr. LANGEVIN (for himself, Ms. MOORE, and Mr. DEUTCH) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To ensure greater accountability by licensed firearms dealers. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Keeping Gun Dealers 

5 Honest Act of 2018’’. 

6 SEC. 2. INCREASING THE NUMBER OF ALLOWED COMPLI7 ANCE INSPECTIONS OF FIREARMS DEALERS. 

8 Section 923(g)(1)(B)(ii)(I) of title 18, United States 

9 Code, is amended by striking ‘‘once’’ and inserting ‘‘3 

10 times’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. INCREASING PENALTIES ON FIREARMS LICENSEES. 

2 Section 924(a)(3) of title 18, United States Code, is 

3 amended by striking ‘‘one year’’ and inserting ‘‘5 years’’. 

4 SEC. 4. SERIOUS RECORDKEEPING OFFENSES THAT AID 

5 GUN TRAFFICKING. 

6 Section 924(a)(3) of title 18, United States Code, is 

7 amended by striking the period and inserting ‘‘; but if the 

8 violation is in relation to an offense under subsection 

9 (a)(6) or (d) of section 922, shall be fined under this title, 

10 imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.’’. 

11 SEC. 5. SUSPENSION OF FIREARMS DEALER’S LICENSE AND 

12 CIVIL PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS OF THE 

13 GUN CONTROL ACT. 

14 Subsections (e) and (f) of section 923 of title 18, 

15 United States Code, are amended to read as follows: 

16 ‘‘(e) The Attorney General may, after notice and op17 portunity for hearing, suspend or revoke any license issued 

18 under this section, or may subject the licensee to a civil 

19 penalty of not more than $10,000 per violation, if the 

20 holder of the license has violated any provision of this 

21 chapter or any rule or regulation prescribed by the Attor22 ney General under this chapter or fails to have secure gun 

23 storage or safety devices available at any place in which 

24 firearms are sold under the license to persons who are not 

25 licensees (except that in any case in which a secure gun 

26 storage or safety device is temporarily unavailable because 


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1 of theft, casualty loss, consumer sales, backorders from 

2 a manufacturer, or any other similar reason beyond the 

3 control of the licensee, the dealer shall not be considered 

4 to be in violation of the requirement to make available 

5 such a device). The Attorney General may, after notice 

6 and opportunity for hearing, suspend or revoke the license 

7 of, or assess a civil penalty of not more than $10,000 on, 

8 a dealer who transfers armor piercing ammunition. The 

9 Attorney General may at any time compromise, mitigate, 

10 or remit the liability with respect to any violation of this 

11 chapter or any rule or regulation prescribed by the Attor12 ney General under this chapter. The Attorney General’s 

13 actions under this subsection may be reviewed only as pro14 vided in subsection (f). 

15 ‘‘(f)(1) Any person whose application for a license is 

16 denied and any holder of a license which is suspended or 

17 revoked or who is assessed a civil penalty shall receive a 

18 written notice from the Attorney General stating specifi19 cally the grounds upon which the application was denied 

20 or upon which the license was suspended or revoked or 

21 the civil penalty assessed. Any notice of a suspension or 

22 revocation of a license shall be given to the holder of the 

23 license before the effective date of the suspension or rev24 ocation. 


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1 ‘‘(2) If the Attorney General denies an application 

2 for a license, or suspends or revokes a license, or assesses 

3 a civil penalty, the Attorney General shall, upon request 

4 by the aggrieved party, promptly hold a hearing to review 

5 the denial, suspension, revocation, or assessment. In the 

6 case of a suspension or revocation of a license, the Attor7 ney General shall, on the request of the holder of the li8 cense, stay the effective date of the suspension or revoca9 tion. A hearing under this paragraph shall be held at a 

10 location convenient to the aggrieved party. 

11 ‘‘(3) If after a hearing held under paragraph (2) the 

12 Attorney General decides not to reverse the decision to 

13 deny an application or suspend or revoke a license or as14 sess a civil penalty, the Attorney General shall give notice 

15 of the decision to the aggrieved party. The aggrieved party 

16 may at any time within 60 days after the date notice is 

17 given under this paragraph file a petition with the United 

18 States district court for the district in which the party 

19 resides or in which the party’s principal place of business 

20 is located for a de novo judicial review of the denial, sus21 pension, revocation, or assessment. In a proceeding con22 ducted under this subsection, the court may consider any 

23 evidence submitted by the parties to the proceeding wheth24 er or not such evidence was considered at the hearing held 

25 under paragraph (2). If the court decides that the AttorVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:32 Jun 14, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6075.IH H6075

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1 ney General was not authorized to deny the application 

2 or to suspend or revoke the license or to assess the civil 

3 penalty, the court shall order the Attorney General to take 

4 such action as may be necessary to comply with the judg5 ment of the court.’’. 

6 SEC. 6. TERMINATION OF FIREARMS DEALER’S LICENSE 

7 UPON FELONY CONVICTION. 

8 Section 925(b) of title 18, United States Code, is 

9 amended by striking ‘‘until any conviction pursuant to the 

10 indictment becomes final’’ and inserting ‘‘until the date 

11 of any conviction pursuant to the indictment’’. 

12 SEC. 7. AUTHORITY TO HIRE ADDITIONAL PERSONNEL. 

13 The Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, 

14 Firearms and Explosives may hire at least 80 additional 

15 personnel for the purpose of carrying out additional in16 spections as provided for in the amendments made by this 

17 Act. 


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1 SEC. 8. AUTHORITY TO REQUIRE LICENSED DEALER TO 

2 CONDUCT A PHYSICAL INVENTORY AND PRO3 VIDE INVENTORY RECORD IF DEALER HAS 

4 UNLAWFULLY TRANSFERRED A FIREARM OR 

5 10 OR MORE CRIME GUNS ARE TRACED TO 

6 THE DEALER. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 923(g)(1) of title 18, 

8 United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 

9 following: 

10 ‘‘(E) The Attorney General may require a licensed 

11 importer, licensed manufacturer, or licensed dealer to con12 duct a physical inventory of the firearms in the business 

13 inventory of the licensee, and provide the Attorney General 

14 with a detailed record of the physical inventory if— 

15 ‘‘(i) the licensee has been convicted of transfer16 ring a firearm unlawfully; or 

17 ‘‘(ii) the Attorney General finds that 10 or 

18 more firearms used in a crime under Federal, State, 

19 or local law have been traced back to the licensee.’’. 

20 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

21 (1) Section 923(j) of such title is amended in 

22 the 6th sentence by inserting ‘‘, except as required 

23 under subsection (g)(1)(E)’’ before the period. 

24 (2) The 5th proviso of the item relating to ‘‘Bu25 reau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’’ 

26 in title II of division B of the Consolidated and FurVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:32 Jun 14, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6075.IH H6075

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1 ther Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013 (127 

2 Stat. 248; Public Law 113–6) is amended by insert3 ing ‘‘, except as required under subsection (g)(1)(E) 

4 of such section 923’’ before the colon. 

5 SEC. 9. ISSUANCE OF LICENSES. 

6 Section 923 of title 18, United States Code, is 

7 amended— 

8 (1) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘shall issue’’ 

9 and inserting ‘‘may issue’’; and 

10 (2) in subsection (d)(1), by striking ‘‘shall be’’ 

11 and inserting ‘‘may be’’. 

12 SEC. 10. LIABILITY STANDARDS. 

13 Section 923 of title 18, United States Code, is 

14 amended in each of subsections (c) and (d), by striking 

15 ‘‘willfully’’ each place it appears. 

16 SEC. 11. REGULATORY FLEXIBILITY. 

17 Section 926(a) of title 18, United States Code, is 

18 amended by striking ‘‘only’’. 

19 SEC. 12. REPORT TO THE CONGRESS. 

20 The Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, 

21 Firearms and Explosives shall submit biennial reports to 

22 the Congress on the implementation of this Act, which 

23 shall include a statement by the Director as to what addi24 tional resources, if any, are necessary in order to imple25 ment this Act, and any recommendations of the Director 


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1 for how better to ensure that firearms dealers are com2 plying with all laws and regulations that apply with re3 spect to dealing in firearms, and that noncompliant fire4 arms dealers are subject to appropriate action in a timely 

5 manner. 

Æ 


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